The purpose of this study was to understand K-12 school department chairs' lived experiences with burnout, a condition caused by chronic workplace stress that manifests as exhaustion, cynicism and mental distancing from one's work, and a sense of ineffectiveness (World Health Organization, 2019). Semi-structured interviews conducted over Zoom with…

This quantitative study sought to determine how the work-life balance of Texas principals changes according to the grade levels of their campuses in terms of role balance, role ease, and role overload. The researcher applied the role balance theory to make the complex matter of principals' work-life balance more understandable. Participants in…

In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law, replacing No Child Left Behind as the statutory education policy of the federal government of the United States (US). Building on prior shifts in accountability policy at the state level, ESSA focused attention and resources on building school leadership capacities. Five years on,…

The phenomenological study explored perceptions of the principal's self-efficacy on teacher retention in hard-to-staff schools in southeast Texas. The participants in this study consisted of eight participants, who are principals with at least 3 years of experience and are Texas residents. Using a phenomenological approach, individual interviews…

The study of loneliness in the workplace has received extensive attention recently. However, there is a lack of research concerning loneliness within educational organizations and no study to date has examined loneliness among deputy principals. The current study examined deputy principals' interpretation of loneliness in the workplace and posed…

This study aims to explore the understanding and actualization of teacher leadership among teachers and principals in the school development process. Teacher leadership is considered a powerful concept by providing teachers with the opportunity to contribute to sustainable school development by supporting professional development among their…

Principals in the United States are faced with challenging and complex roles as the leaders of our schools. Levels of district, state, and federal mandates and accountability measures coupled with the demands of supporting students, parents, and teachers on a multitude of levels create a job that is almost impossible to keep up with. In addition,…

Chile is undertaking an ambitious public education reform, re-centralising the administration of municipal schools in larger territories. This reform is unprecedented, both for the size of the new intermediate-level services ("Servicios Locales de Educación Pública") and the escalation of their bureaucratic complexity, facing widespread…

In Nordic countries, as well as in the Netherlands, schools have high school autonomy (OECD, 2016 [Netherlands 2016 Foundations for the Future. https://www.oecd.org/netherlands/netherlands-2016-9789264257658-en.htm]; Tolo et al., 2020 [Intelligent accountability in schools: A study of how school leaders work with the implementation of assessment…

The study explored vice-principals' interpretations of their loneliness experiences in the workplace. The following questions guided the research: (1) How do vice-principals perceive the consequences of their loneliness in regard to their personal and professional lives? (2) In what ways do vice-principals perceive that their loneliness…

Burnout among educators has been a growing concern in the field of education. Although there has been much research into the factors causing educators, there has been limited research into causes of burnout specifically for the midlevel school leaders such as assistant principals, instructional coaches, and school deans. This study sought to…

K-12 students need to become familiar with engineering because 21st-century careers integrate engineering practices across all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. While the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasize learning real science and engineering practices, further work is needed to authenticate…

In recent years, within the United States and globally, workforce members who directly and tangentially treat and serve traumatized individuals have begun to experience an additional occupational hazard in the form of compassion fatigue. Consistent school leadership can be a critical factor in increased student achievement and school-based…

Problem of Practice: School principals have a powerful effect on student achievement, school culture, and teacher turnover. According to the National Association of Secondary School Principals (2020), the average career of a school principal is four years, and one in five school principals leave their schools annually. These numbers are even…

It is well established that principal turnover is of grave concern in the U.S. (Goldring & Taie, 2018; Levin et al., 2020) and may have been exacerbated due to the pandemic (Steiner et al., 2022). This transcendental phenomenological study explored the experience of women principals at P-12 schools in the U.S. who voluntarily left their roles…